These People Are Genuinely Off Their Rockers (3)
Do Gwang's face twisted with disgust.
"What... what did you say...?"
Dang A-ran's expression crumbled. She must have misheard. She had forced herself to dredge up that painful past and speak the truth, and this was the response she got. These people are off their rockers. Was that really the kind of thing that came out of a human mouth?
But, as if mocking her very thoughts, Do Gwang repeated it with the flat, incredulous tone of a man watching someone sneeze into a bowl of soup.
"I said you're off your fucking rocker, you piece of shit."
He even added a gratuitous insult on top of that.
"B-be... piece of shit...?"
Dang A-ran repeated it back, her face slack with shock.
"Kyaahaha~!"
A bright, unguarded laugh rang out across the clearing. Naturally, the owner of that sound was Do Hwa. The girl pointed her chopstick-like fingers straight at Dang A-ran and crowed.
"She's a piece of shit! Kyaahaha~!"
"Uuurgh...!!"
Dang A-ran trembled from head to toe with shame and fury.
"You're not even people! I'm telling you, you're actually insane!"
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she snarled, wounded.
"You pull a painful story out of someone's chest and speak from the heart, and what do you call that? How could you...!"
Did these creatures even have emotions? Were they incapable of empathy altogether? How could anyone hear that sad story and respond with these people are off their rockers?
Before Dang A-ran could finish her indignant muttering, Do Gwang cut her off again, sharp as a blade.
"Yeah. Off their rocker. You said you forced the sad story out of someone. More like you're sore about your face getting carved up and throwing a tantrum because your shin hurts."
There wasn't a shred of pity or sympathy for her in his eyes.
"And hey, you crazy bitch. The person who was hurt wasn't you—it was her."
Do Gwang pointed his iron rod at Dang So-ryeong and snorted.
"It's because of you that her mother is dead."
"I already told you that!" Dang A-ran spat the words out like blood.
Do Gwang scoffed and asked, "Oh, so you didn't do it on purpose? You're saying you did it because you're a raging idiot?"
"No, why do people keep talking like that...!"
"Enough."
Do Gwang cut off Dang A-ran's excuses without mercy. "Fine. Let's say you didn't know because you were young."
"It's not that I didn't know...!"
The instant Dang A-ran opened her mouth to protest the injustice, the ground exploded.
—!!!
Do Gwang's iron rod came down on the earth with reckless force.
"Genuinely off their rocker. What, are you here to do laundry?"
Do Gwang looked down at Dang A-ran with sorrowful eyes. "And on top of that, you're doing the tragic heroine act."
He pointed at Dang So-ryeong with his chin. "The real person who suffered tragedy is someone else."
"A... ah..."
Dang So-ryeong covered her face with both hands and wept. This household—since the moment she was born, aside from her deceased mother—had never once acknowledged her pain, let alone offered that fake sympathy. And now, for the first time in her life, someone was standing up for her emotionally.
"Hic... hic..."
That pitiful sobbing—Do Gwang definitely recognized who it was. The person who, when she deliberately provoked Dang A-ran, delighted in watching her suffer.
'Mad Doctor.'
In the game, Dang So-ryeong was the infamous Crazed Physician of the Heavenly Demon Sect. If you asked players to name five lunatics in The Righteous and the Wicked, she'd take up all five fingers. If you took the orthodox path, you couldn't even have a conversation with her—there was no way to learn about her past, because she'd paralyze the player and then try to dissect them. Even the demonic path, where dialogue was possible, was the same. No matter how close you got, she never revealed her own history.
So even Do Gwang, who'd sunk thousands of hours into the game, couldn't immediately identify Dang So-ryeong. He certainly never expected the Mad Doctor to be from the Sichuan Dang family.
But now that he'd seen this wretched household with his own eyes, he understood why she never talked about it. Merely thinking about it would have been absolutely fucking awful.
'These bastards are really like onions.'
Ugly layers kept peeling back in endless waves that never stopped. Even if we count the Poison King as a piece of shit, we're being generous.
The eldest son who charged in mouth-first without reading the room and got his brother killed. The second son who celebrated the prospect of becoming junior family head the moment his brother died. The father who, when his own child died, decided to survive by beating his daughter. The youngest who couldn't stand the thought of a scratch on her face and spun some revolting sob story.
What a goddamn spectacle. These idiots are really putting on a show.
For martial arts fans who genuinely loved the Sichuan Dang family, this plot was the kind that made you grab the back of your neck and collapse.
Briefly pushing those absurd thoughts aside, Do Gwang continued.
"You didn't even apologize, right? Isn't that so?"
"Th-that's...!"
"Because of the family atmosphere, there was nothing you could do~ If you keep running your mouth, I'll crack your skull open right here."
"I, I really...!"
"Really my ass. Piece of shit."
Do Gwang looked down at Dang A-ran, who kept making excuses, with undisguised revulsion.
"You just pretended not to know to make things easier for yourself, and now you're still running your mouth? About what?"
He swept his gaze across the Dang family members.
"The family atmosphere? Yeah, you know damn well what a piece of shit the Sichuan Dang family is."
His crude insult provoked one of the Dang family warriors into action. Unable to hold his tongue, the man grabbed his sword hilt and lunged forward.
"You little— I'll show you what for...!"
But before the man could finish his heroic declaration—
"Skull."
—! —!
Do Gwang's iron rod obliterated the man's head in a single, clean stroke. No one could react to that merciless movement.
And so—
"....."
"....."
Silence. The crowd could only stand there like flies stuck in honey. Nobody wanted to be next. With the atmosphere that thoroughly subdued, Do Gwang brushed the blood off his iron rod and continued.
"Even if you wanted to apologize to her or make amends, and even if the old farts threw a tantrum because your family is a piece of shit—"
"But if you're a human being at all—"
"You should apologize even if it kills you. You should at least put on a show of feeling sorry. That's the bare minimum."
"Or at the very least, you should feel some guilt and have the decency to be ashamed."
"But instead, this lowlife is busy calling herself better than everyone else while mouthing off."
"It wasn't just a day or two, was it? You've been tormenting her your whole life."
"So what now?"
"There was nothing you could do? You actually loved her?"
"Genuinely off their rocker."
Do Gwang regarded Dang A-ran as nothing more than a queen bee who led her swarm of drones around based on her face alone. He hadn't realized she was this level of trash. If I'd known, I would've cracked her skull the first time I saw her. In fact, he'd even been considering treating her differently because she'd offered to prostrate herself in apology to defend Dang Tae-bo. The game had shown her a different side. So he'd given her the benefit of the doubt.
But seeing Dang So-ryeong's bewildered face, and Dang A-ran's pleased little smile as she bit her lip, his blood boiled.
For even a moment of seeing her in a better light, he regretted it. He even felt betrayed.
That was why he'd poured out his words so ruthlessly.
And to Do Gwang, who spoke like that—
"Th-that..."
Dang A-ran could only smack her lips. She couldn't get a single word out. If she admitted anything here, it would be openly declaring that she was truly garbage.
And so—
"Wow... you really are a piece of shit. Still trying to preserve your dignity?"
Do Gwang let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
"Honestly... I'm the piece of shit for hoping that a lunatic who killed someone's parents and then went on to torment and beat the victim would somehow see reason. I'm the piece of shit."
Do Gwang thrust his iron rod toward Dang A-ran.
"And I told you clearly, didn't I?"
"W-what..."
"What what. Is this really the face of a raging idiot? This is hilarious."
Do Gwang grinned, but his eyes held not a trace of amusement.
"I said I'd give you one chance. Just one."
That declaration he'd made in the middle of the city, when he'd stopped mid-swing to sever Dang Tae-bo's head.
"One more time you provoke me, and the Dang family doesn't exist anymore."
"Th-that...!"
Dang A-ran frantically opened her mouth to stammer out an excuse. But Do Gwang had zero intention of listening to another word from her.
—!
His inner energy erupted from his body in a violent explosion. A blue aura swept through the Dang family estate's courtyard, crashing and surging.
"Th-this is what...!?"
"Hiiiik...! Huff...!"
That overwhelming energy pressure left Dang Jung-hyeok and every Dang family warrior completely mind-blank.
Then—
"Um... Master."
Dang So-ryeong called out to Do Gwang in a cautious voice.
Do Gwang responded flatly. "Yeah. You're exempt. Come over here."
To be fair, it was her own claim, but... In any case, Do Gwang wasn't the kind of madman who enjoyed slaughtering people, so he had no intention of harming Dang So-ryeong. She was destined to become the Mad Doctor of the Heavenly Demon Sect—someone who'd joined the demonic path, roamed around spreading medicine and cutting people open. It wasn't his business.
But there was one person who was dissatisfied with his merciful decision.
"Ee..."
It was Do Hwa, her cheeks puffed out in a sulky pout. "Can we kill her too?"
Do Hwa's bright eyes sparkled as she raised her short sword.
Do Gwang patted the girl's head gently and soothed her. "Do Hwa, you saw. She's a pitiful kid too."
"Ee... but..."
Normally, Do Hwa would have nodded immediately. But this time was different. Her instincts were screaming at her that Dang So-ryeong had to die.
"She was tormented by that crazy old man just like our Do Hwa was."
With that, Do Hwa had no choice but to nod. "O-Okay! I got it!"
Hearing that Dang So-ryeong had been bullied by No Okpyeon—the man whose head Do Hwa had never been able to crack no matter how many times she killed him—she reluctantly sheathed her short sword.
And so, having even persuaded Do Hwa, Do Gwang was now ready to swing his iron rod with gleeful abandon.
He re-gripped the rod, adjusting his stance for maximum skull-cracking impact—when—
"Um... Master..."
Dang So-ryeong called out to him again, carefully.
Do Gwang's eyebrows pinched together. "Why?"
His voice dripped with open displeasure. It was obvious just from looking. This was going to be that annoying setup where, because they're family by blood, she's about to beg for mercy through tears and snot, and he's supposed to feel bad.
Do Gwang had absolutely no intention of entertaining that kind of foolish request. If Dang So-ryeong got in the way, then she'd be dealt with right alongside the rest. Do Gwang had long since decided that anyone he didn't like in this martial world was getting their skull cracked.
But—
"These trash are worse off alive than dead..."
Dang So-ryeong spoke with a dark, secretive smile.
"...Master."
Do Gwang lowered his rod to the ground and tilted his head. "That's... actually a fair point."
It was a statement he could understand. From a modern perspective, he absolutely couldn't fathom it, but no one understood the petty obsession with honor more than the orthodox Gupailbang and the Eight Great Sects. Today, Do Gwang had thoroughly demolished the Sichuan Dang family's reputation, and not only Murim Alliance officials like Moyong Jin and Gwok Byeok, but countless spectators in the city had witnessed it firsthand. The Dang family's honor had already plummeted into an irrecoverable abyss.
But—
"No. I'm cracking their skulls."
That was the point. Do Gwang wasn't going through all this trouble to make them look pathetic. "I just don't like these bastards." That was all. He was cracking their skulls simply because he didn't like them. Do Gwang's blunt, simple answer left—
"...I understand."
Dang So-ryeong didn't object. She bowed her head and stepped back one pace. The obstacle was finally gone.
"Now then, family head."
Do Gwang tapped his iron rod against the ground and smiled at Dang Jung-hyeok. "I'll give you a chance."
Anyone could understand the implication. It was an invitation to try something. It was an arrogant, carefree posture dripping with confidence.
However, Dang Jung-hyeok couldn't even bring himself to draw a weapon.
"Th-that Righteous...!"
"Oh..."
Do Gwang genuinely marveled. Was it really possible for the head of the Sichuan Dang family to be this pathetic? As he was about to just crack the old man's skull—
"This will certainly cause trouble later, Righteous!"
Dang Jung-hyeok shouted a clichéd line! "If the master who entered closed-door training emerges, we cannot possibly leave the Righteous to his fate!!!"
How outrageous. The man who had sealed his lips and looked away when his own children were dying, now clinging to the ankle of his father who was supposedly in closed-door training—how utterly disgusting and revolting.
But, surprisingly—
That pathetic defiance actually worked on Do Gwang.
"Oh? The Poison King, then?"
He spun his iron rod and his eyes lit up. "That's right. No matter how much of a Righteous you are, facing one of the Twenty Great Heavenly Kings would be quite the hassle!"
Dang Jung-hyeok, not missing the opportunity, spat and blustered. "So if you stop here, I'll make sure to tell Father when he completes his closed-door training!"
Dang Jung-hyeok, puffed up with self-importance, believed he'd escaped the crisis! He was happy! But there was absolutely no way that was going to happen. If he'd been wary of the Poison King's eyes, he never would have dared to storm the Dang family in the first place.
Now, watch. As proof—
—!
The inner energy simmering around Do Gwang exploded outward. Dang Jung-hyeok's face drained of all color.
"W-wait...!"
He thrust out his hands desperately, but—
———!!!
Dang Jung-hyeok — Eliminated
### The timeline rewound just a little.
Within the Dang family estate's main hall, there were still arrogant people who hadn't burst outside despite the chaos outside.
"It's almost time for me to rest. What is all this commotion?"
That was Dang Jung-hyeok's wife, Oh Bu-in—the mother of Dang A-ran—and her subordinates. Anyone with a functioning brain would know that the explosion outside signaled a family emergency, but—
"Indeed, Madam. It is nearly time for you to retire to your chamber, yet outside is so tumultuous, I hardly know what to do."
"How dare you disturb Madam's mood. Order the escorts to silence the disturbance outside, will you?"
The women of the inner circle were scrambling to appear more pleasing to Oh Bu-in, fawning over each other.
Then—
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaah—!"
A woman's scream echoed faintly into the main hall.
"....?"
"....?"
The inner circle women froze, their mouths hanging open, only able to exchange glances.
"That voice... is that Dang A-ran...?"
One of the women whispered cautiously.
"Hmph. What nonsense. My daughter would never make such a disgraceful sound."
Oh Bu-in furrowed her brow, displeased.
"N-no! How could that be. It's not Madam's beloved daughter at all, it's that wretched illegitimate's—"
The woman hastily shook her head.
"That's right. It must be the sound of that lowborn girl. There's no way it could be the voice of Madam's beautiful daughter!"
The other women quickly chimed in.
Oh Bu-in's expression finally eased. "Hmph. I suppose that makes sense. She must be getting beaten for whatever trouble she caused outside."
She spoke with a cold smile. Dang Jung-hyeok had said she was skilled in medicine and useful, but to spare her life. However, Oh Bu-in wasn't the kind of woman who would meekly obey her philandering husband's words.
"This time, there's no need for our Aran's hand. You lot will handle it properly."
She issued her orders to the escorts outside. These were the same men who had once cleaned up the corpse of Dang So-ryeong's mother while trembling and cursing—meaning the target was Dang So-ryeong.
"Y-yes, Madam."
"We'll make sure Miss doesn't have to get her hands dirty this time."
"Hmph. Good."
Oh Bu-in nodded, satisfied with their response. The commotion outside would quiet down soon enough anyway. She was about to retire to her chamber when—
—!!!!
A detonation that split the eardrums erupted once more, shaking the Dang family estate to its foundations. When they turned to look, blue light was bursting through the walls of the building, pouring in with merciless force.
"Th-this is wha—"
Oh Bu-in and her subordinates' eyes bulged as if they'd been clawed open. They didn't even have time to understand what the light was. Because the sound that followed immediately tore their eardrums apart.
-!!!!!!!!!
This was the last sight and the final memory they would ever see.
### Back in the Dang family courtyard.
"Huuuurgh...!!"
"Huuuuff...!!"
Everyone gasped and sucked in breath. The Dang family's people, the Murim Alliance members watching from outside, the spectators—everyone, without exception. Because the family's main hall, the center of the estate, had been turned to powder and simply vanished.
'Th-this is... what...!!!'
Dang Jung-hyeok stared blankly at the crater where the main hall had stood. Even if Father emerges from closed-door training...! He couldn't win this. Unless he reached the Star Realm, there was absolutely no way. He instinctively, bone-deep, realized that truth.
A monster...! It's a monster...!!!
Dang Jung-hyeok's legs began to shake like a willow in a storm. He couldn't run, paralyzed by terror.
Then—
"Family head."
Do Gwang's soft yet cold voice pierced his ear. —
"Let me ask you one more time. Who did you say you apologized to?"
He tapped his iron rod against the ground, that smile on his face unmistakably belonging to a death god.
"Go ahead. Tell me again."
"I... no... that... that..."
Dang Jung-hyeok's lips had turned blue from the cold, and he couldn't form a single word. Perfect despair pressed down on his entire body.
Then—
"Mother!!!"
Dang A-ran screamed through tears, her face streaked with blood. All she could see was the charred remains of the main hall.
"No... Mother was inside... Aaah!!! You monster! You'll surely burn in hell!!!"
She wailed, cursing Do Gwang.
But to her shriek—
"Pfft."
Do Gwang couldn't hold back his laughter. And then, almost mockingly—
"Oh, didn't know that~"
He spun his iron rod with a casual flick and spoke to Dang A-ran. "Who did you say was inside, exactly?"